Welcome To Our Class Pages

Reception 2018 - 2019

Mrs Richmond

Miss Pankhurst/Miss Pearson

In Reception we spend the first few weeks of the autumn term getting to know each other and becoming familiar with the school expectations and routines. We find out each other’s interests and develop friendships with one another, whilst becoming aware of the seasonal changes around us.

Our days are very busy, packed with play-based learning opportunities and we love it when our hard work is rewarded, especially if we are brave and have a go at something new.

We have an enticing learning environment where we can follow our own lines of enquiry, whilst also working on specific Areas of Learning such as maths and literacy activities.

Once we have settled and know each other a little, our interests will guide the learning opportunities provided, adapting the environment as appropriate. During the autumn term there are several festivals and celebrations to enjoy, including Hallowe’en, Bonfire night and Diwali and, of course, Christmas. We will incorporate these into our learning.

Molly Bear is very much part of our reception class, and each child has the opportunity to take her home to meet family and friends and share experiences with her.

As soon as all the children are attending school full-time, we begin our daily phonics lessons, establishing the expectations through games and songs. We also begin our afternoon reading activities, enjoying our daily Book Club: after sharing a story with our friends in Nursery, we help the children to develop their reading skills whilst enjoying a shared text in a small group twice per week. As these skills progress, more challenging texts will be offered, having been carefully differentiated for each child and group of children. We ask for your support in helping develop your child’s reading skills with regular reading at home. It is important that s/he receives a breadth of reading materials in order for him/her to fully consolidate and apply the skills s/he needs in his/her later learning. They bring their reading books home every day, with the opportunity of changing it each time their reading record is signed to show they have read at home. Thank you.

You may have heard a lot about Baseline Assessment in the news:

We are continually assessing the progress of your child to give him/her the very best experience at school. At the beginning of the school year we observe each child’s understanding and approach to learning in order to establish their starting points. This helps to inform us of their next steps and feeds into the planning each week. We do not use any of the National Baselines, preferring instead to use our professional judgement to inform us of their levels of understanding against the Early Years Outcomes. The children are not ‘tested’, they learn in an engaging environment and we, as professionals, observe them in their play. This gives us a true reflection of their learning styles.